A prequel to Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, Huelle's novel follows that novel's protagonist, Hans Castorp, in his university days in Danzig at the turn of the 20th century. His shipbuilding studies barely get a mention, but we meet a range of unusual characters, from his widowed landlady, Frau Wybe, to a private detective, Hermann Tischler. As Castorp enjoys his Maria Mancini cigars, cycling expeditions and long, languid lunches, a series of chance quarrels and encounters leads to an accidental act of theft and an obsession with a visiting Polish woman 10 years his senior, in town to meet her Russian soldier lover.

An incidental player in pan-European politics, Castorp observes his own behaviour with increasing confusion and semi-detached interest. Huelle's novel is a delightful period piece, interested in the psychology of a prewar continent. His style is charmingly effective, the book written with an understated wit very much of the era in which it is set, and gently, deceptively provocative.